


The High Priestess

by viciousmollymaukery



Series: Critical Tarot [6]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Fantasy Violence, Light Angst, Multi, Plot Twists, multiple POVs, what's sexier than wizards NOTHING, will update tags as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:13:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24330376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viciousmollymaukery/pseuds/viciousmollymaukery
Summary: "High Priestess is a card of mystery, stillness and passivity. When this card is in play, things are not quite what they seem to be."The Mighty Nein do battle with Vess de Rogna and return her to Rexxentrum, but find there is more at play with the Assembly than they had expected.
Relationships: Essek Thelyss & The Mighty Nein, Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast
Series: Critical Tarot [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2147757
Comments: 16
Kudos: 86





	The High Priestess

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a bit late and I'll be posting chapter-by-chapter again, so sorry for the delay. I've had some real life stuff take up my time, and with my grown-up job starting soon I might have less time to work on this than I would like, so future updates will probably be slower. But, for now, here's a bit more of my weird timeline that's spiraled more than I thought it would.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Don’t let her get too close,” Caleb shouted, weaving another cat’s cradle in his hands and sending a Web of Fire across the large, hulking Aeorian monster that de Rogna had Dominated against them, already his second of the battle. “We don’t know if she’s contagious!”

Of course, that was a lot easier said than done, he thought fleetingly as he reached for his component pouch for some molasses and stepped back into Jester’s protective swarm of unicorn hamster Spiritual Guardians, watching Beauregard and Yasha start hacking and slashing at the beast. This chamber wasn’t especially large, and it was cluttered with tables and desks and half-open chests and what looked like ruined artifacts that de Rogna had either brought here with her or collected here before. They could all fit inside, and there were plenty of nooks and crannies for them to slink away through, but it was going to be tough if it came to that.

Caleb ducked as he saw a blue-and-pink stripped lollipop surge in an arc over his head down towards the creature, which roared in anger as the Spiritual Weapon impacted with its head. He returned his attention back to de Rogna, who had to be skulking somewhere around in the shadows. Essek had just Counterspelled her attempt to Teleport away, and Veth’s crossbow bolts had been well placed enough to make her drop her Globe, but then the slippery snake had turned Invisible and he hadn’t seen her since, which he didn’t like. He wasn’t sure if she could spread Frigid Woe to any of his friends, but he wouldn’t put it past her to try if she could.

“She’s over here,” Fjord yelled now that he was conscious again from maybe twenty feet away, eyes shimmering with the See Invisibility spell from Dwueth’Var as the sword in question swung around and sliced into the Invisible de Rogna with an almost sickening _squishing_ sound. Drops of blood scattered through the freezing, steaming air, leaving a dark spray across the permafrosted tiles that made up the floor of the ruins.

De Rogna blinked back into view, hair hanging in limp strands around her bruised, frostbitten face, eyes wild and teeth bared. Gone was the cool, collected Archmage he’d met with aboard the Wind of Aeons; the perfect picture of poise and elegance that the Cerberus Assembly exuded had been painted over with desperation and ferocity. This was a woman fighting for her life, and it was clear that she knew it as she turned on Fjord and pulled some familiar dust back over her arm and her finger began to glow with a greenish light—

“No you don’t,” Caleb muttered as he stepped forward to Counterspell her, pulling at his own Fortune’s Favor and the Bless that Caduceus was holding over them all as his fingers curled into a destructive thundering cacophonous _snap_ and de Rogna’s attempt at Disintegrating Fjord fizzled out into nothing.

She shrieked in frustration and turned her well over borderline feral gaze towards him, but Caleb was already smearing the molasses across his hands and sending a wave of Slow over her and the creature back near the door. By some small miracle, it took effect over both of them and their movements became sluggish, limbs meeting invisible resistance as they moved through the air.

Two more crossbow bolts pierced through the shadows and slammed into de Rogna, one lodging in her thigh and the other cutting deep into her chest as she staggered, but most of the Mighty Nein were trying to wrangle the monstrous mutant that was still harrowing them from across the room. It was an awful looking beast, almost reminiscent of the Laughing Hand with its many-mouthed form that screamed and screeched and giant claws that were swiping far too close to Caleb’s family for his comfort.

Beauregard’s fists _slammed_ rapidly into its now charred side, at long last finding a decent amount of purchase for her to get some information from it. “Fucking, goddamn, radiant and necrotic won’t do shit—” She cut off as the horrible _gnashing_ sounds overtook her head before she could make her next attacks, her form tensing up as she was stunned in place.

“Someone, fucking shut that thing up!” Jester screamed in frustration as she grabbed her axe and threw it at the creature, leaving a decent gash in one leg before her lollipop _whacked_ it again from above.

“I can’t really Silence it today,” Caduceus called out from where he was trying to heal an unconscious Yasha a bit before she inevitably jumped back into the fray.

Neither could Caleb, not with de Rogna still bearing down on him, another delayed spell beginning to form on her lips. Fjord had gone slack and still along with Beauregard, Eldritch Blast fading away as his hands dropped to his side, and Veth was still lurking in the shadows somewhere. He wasn’t panicking, not yet, but this was far from ideal. He was just getting near uncomfortable with the amount of magic he had left in him, and they weren’t as close as he would have liked to taking out either of these monsters.

His fingers slipped into the component pouch again, searching into its pockets and compartments for some eggshells. They couldn’t kill her, they needed her alive, but he couldn’t think of any reason to put her down easy, so as the other monster still harrowing his friends swiped at Beauregard and swung wide he dropped the Slow spell and a spectral cat’s paw burst into existence, toes wrapping around de Rogna and claws scratching deep into her as it lifted her into the air.

Caleb gritted his teeth against the sound of the creature’s mouths as they started _gibbering_ again, the sound threatening to overwhelm his psyche for an unpleasant moment. With de Rogna restrained finally near death for the time being, the monster was now their most threatening priority, and they had to do _something_ about that gods-forsaken _chattering_ it kept making.

His eyes sought out Essek maybe fifteen feet away, the part of his brain that had been keeping him in its thoughts taking control for the time being. He looked about as tapped and beat to shit as Caleb felt, but not significantly worse than any of them, which was a relief. “Do you have anything that can make _that—”_ Caleb pointed over his other shoulder towards the roaring, screeching creature— “be quiet?”

Essek pressed his lips together, taking a grim survey over the situation, weighing risk against reward in a pattern Caleb knew all too well. “Perhaps,” he said after a beat, reaching for his own components and pulling out a glassy looking stone shard. “Everyone,” he called out towards the rest of the Nein, “stand back!”

Despite the danger, Caleb looked on wide-eyed with the same fascination that always came with seeing dunamancy in action as Essek pulled the sharp edge of the glass across his palm and sent a bluer stream of blood than de Rogna’s through the air and the shard crumbled into dust that streaked towards the remaining monster, and an impossibly dark sphere engulfed it, the horrible gnashing and hissing sounds falling finally silent. Essek’s bleeding hand remained outstretched, and the only sound in the chamber was now the steady dripping of his blood cascading down and staining the patches of snow.

“Oh thank _fuck_ ,” Fjord gasped, pulling his hands away from his ears.

“Is it finally fucking dead?” Jester demanded, holding Beauregard upright, having dragged her away from the reach of the creature.

“I’ll fucking finish it if it’s not,” Yasha snarled, already raising her sword and holding an attack, veins in her forehead and neck bulging with rage now that she was back on her feet.

“I am unsure,” Essek said through his teeth, stepping forward near the trembling Yasha so they all formed a loose circle around the spell and the creature that was, presumably, confined within it, everyone taking just a moment to collect themselves. “It can still—”

There was a horrible _ripping_ sound as the beast’s claws emerged from the edge of the black-as-night sphere and sank into the floor, pulling it forward, beaten and bloody and seemingly _crushed_ in an awful sort of way. The accursed grinding of teeth and nonsensical chattering started up again, and Caleb felt his muscles lock up and his limbs freeze in place along with it.

He heard Veth’s distant screech of exasperation as two more bolts buried themselves in its half-exposed body. Fjord’s jaw went slack again and Beauregard’s eyes glazed over, her fist swinging wildly out at Jester, who dodged it nimbly without missing a beat. Essek had somehow stood strong against the sounds, but Caleb was forced to watch in horror as Yasha’s face went blank and her sword carved a solemnly silent strike through the air down towards Essek and his Shield did nothing and he crumpled to the ground, the spell vanishing and the rest of the creature coming into view.

But Caduceus was healing him before Caleb could snap out of his reverie to scream for his help, and Jester’s lollipop brought down a final, earth-shattering _crack_ onto the monster’s head, and all was blessedly silent again. Well, silent save for de Rogna’s muttering and occasional frustrated scream of protest as she was held firm in the Cat’s Ire. Still, Caleb couldn’t turn his attention back over to her just yet, not until his brain stopped forcing him to see smoke and lightning and Scourgers and he was _sure—_

“There you go,” Caduceus said, helping to pull Essek, tattered and exhausted and shaky but wonderfully _alive_ , up to his feet from the pool of blood he'd collapsed in. “You’re alright, we’re all fine now.”

Essek coughed, the sound equally heart-wrenching and heart-lifting to Caleb’s ears. “Thank you,” he said weakly as he stood up straight, looking down at the now slain monster.

“You’re alright,” Caleb managed, part statement and part question.

Essek nodded in affirmation. “I’m fine,” he said with a slight smile.

Yasha cleared her throat awkwardly. “Sorry I, um… cut you in half,” she finished, eyes flickering between him and the fresh shade of darker blood that now coated the edge of her blade. Caleb could see the lingering horror in her eyes, and knew that she would store it away to stew on. He did it himself plenty, to see it in another.

Essek just shrugged and sighed, remarkably unconcerned. “With creations like _this—_ ” he indicated the corpse of the beast that had caused them so many problems over the past minute— “such things are a risk, and are in fact designed to happen. But no lasting harm was done in the end, there is no need to apologize.” His tone was factual, but still reassuring enough to hopefully put her a bit more at ease.

Beauregard frowned at his choice of words, one hand laid protectively over Yasha’s arm. _“’Creations?’”_ She echoed.

Essek’s face darkened. _“She_ may have some more detailed insights,” he said, inclining his head towards the imprisoned de Rogna, who was now hovering just at the edge of unconscious.

Caduceus sent a quick Spare the Dying her way and her breathing stabilized, falling into a low, regular rhythm, and began setting up a Prayer of Healing for them all that they desperately needed. They could all heal up a bit more thoroughly when they were out of this place, but they might end up being here for a while longer. None of them were comfortable leaving an Assembly stronghold without a bit of poking around.

Caleb set de Rogna down on the floor just carefully enough to not seriously injure her and let the paw flicker out, feeling the familiar crash as the rush of adrenaline that came from battle left his body. The usual aches and pains were amplified by the icy air and everyone’s heavy breathing was betrayed by the clouds forming in front of their mouths. He could already feel his sweat starting to freeze at the back of his neck. They needed to move quickly, not only to ensure they didn’t contract hypothermia, but so that they wouldn’t attract any unwanted attention from any of the creatures that had to be lurking around somewhere here.

“We’ll maybe ask her when we’re not in immediate danger for a change,” Fjord said, stretching his arms over his head, gashes oozing a bit more at the motion.

“I’ve, ah, read a bit about this myself,” Caleb said, shuffling through his pockets for one of the books on the floating cities from the Age of Arcanum he’d slipped in there. “Experiments gone wrong, creations to fight against the gods that tried to bring down Aeor, that sort of thing.”

“Everyone,” Veth’s shriek rang out across the room, “come over and look at this _immediately!”_ She was on the far side of the chamber that few of them had been able to investigate thoroughly, examining what looked like a makeshift altar of some kind from Caleb's angle.

Fjord and Yasha were more than happy to ensure that de Rogna was adequately restrained, but the rest of them dutifully filed over towards Veth. Caleb was always reluctant to abandon his search for a book, but Veth’s voice sounded urgent and the gods only knew what else could be at play in this place. Jester weaved between everyone and healed them all a bit more as they stumbled more than walked over, and Caleb breathed a little easier as the throbbing in his ribs eased.

Veth stepped back from the small alcove with the shelf-like setup, revealing a swirling blue and white sphere about a foot in diameter. Its faint white glow reminded Caleb distantly of the Beacons, but something about it seemed far more sinister than the ancient Kryn artifacts. Still, it intrigued him nonetheless, and he felt that age-old itch at the back of his skull to study this thing every which way until he’d learned all the secrets that might dwell within it.

“If you all give me a moment,” Caleb said, giving a voice to his thoughts as he removed the pearl and small feather that he used for his Identify spell from his component pouch, “I can Identify the exact nature of this object, at least to a degree.” He was as fascinated as he was suspicious, and whatever this was, he didn’t feel comfortable leaving it in what appeared to be an active state of some sorts.

“Cool cool cool cool cool, I wanna look at these dope ass artifacts and shit,” Beauregard said, already drifting away from the strange sphere as Caleb began his spell, pulling out her notebook and almost certainly planning to diligently catalog and document everything she saw.

Part of Caleb’s brain was already determining the logistics for a return trip here that would be more exploratory in nature, and it made a mental note to ask her to accompany him and Essek when the day came—and it could come now, now that they were in what was hopefully the end stages of finishing off the Assembly and they just might break free of its clutches, or at least loosen them enough to extend the short leash they’d kept the Empire on for so long. Again his thoughts drifted back to the potentially dangerous ponderings of the Soltryce Academy and what he might do there, once this was all said and done. It still felt so surreal, that some of his goals might actually be reasonably within his grasp—

There was an ear-splitting _crashing_ and Caleb’s gaze whipped around to see Beauregard falling through what must have been a weak spot in the floor, scrambling and failing to catch herself on the edge. Jester screeched and raced over, jumping down after her without a thought, and Caleb heard a secondary _squeak_ of pain as the tiefling presumably landed atop her target.

“Shit, shit, fuck, ass!” Beauregard’s voice drifted back up to their floor along with a steady stream of dust.

“Are you okay down there?” Caduceus asked, still focusing on his spell and seemingly not terribly concerned about their fate.

“Yeah, yeah, we’re totally good!” Jester shouted, the sound reverberating around what must have been a fairly large lower room. “There’s some stairs, just hold on, we’ll be up soon!”

They clambered back up, this time breaking _upwards_ through a different part of the floor on the other side of the room. Caleb noticed Beauregard brushing what looked like dust or flakes of some kind off of her arms and frowned, but his own spell finally took before he could comment.

The sphere before him was incredibly powerful, but whatever spell it was imbued with was far more ancient than perhaps anything he had encountered thus far, and if it had ever had a name it was long lost to time. Still, he could tell that it was a powerful source of evocation and conjuration magic, and that whatever it was doing was responsible for the horrendous storm that was currently sweeping across most of Eiselcross. Speaking a word would deactivate it, and Caleb did just that, causing the swirling arcane energy in the sphere to dim before it went dull and lifeless.

“What is that? What did you do?” Veth asked, hands scrabbling up towards the object.

Caleb cleared his throat. “This,” he said, holding the sphere aloft and turning back to everyone, “seems to have been the source of the troublesome storm we encountered on the way here.”

Fjord blinked. “Is it still active, or…?”

He shook his head. “No, but it may take the storm itself some time to dissipate. Magic like this can be tricky.”

Jester extended her hands eagerly before he could set up for the Vault of Amber to conceal it like he’d planned. “Gimme gimme gimme, pretty please!”

Caleb sighed, unable to resist her, and handed the sphere over with a fond expression. She turned it over a few times, claws scraping on the glassy edge, face scrunched up and serious. “It looks weird, but it feels kinda dead.” She knocked her knuckles on it a few times, and the sound echoed as if she were knocking on the door to a cavernous room. Jester’s eyes widened. “Whooooooa, that’s super cool!”

“Maybe, ah, put it away for now, ja?” Caleb suggested. He was fairly sure that the object wouldn’t activate again, but they couldn’t take any chances in their current ragged state. Still, it could be useful at some point, so he wanted to take it with them all.

Jester grumbled a bit but she shoved it into her Haversack, having to push it in a few times before it finally went inside. Caleb took the opportunity to continue investigating the chamber, eyes dragging across the papers that were tossed around haphazardly and flicking open the occasional chest. Eventually, he came across a tightly locked, intricately designed box, and he frowned when his attempt at opening it was fruitless. A quick Detect Magic over its surface was strangely empty, and he suspected that it was designed to conceal something extremely powerful.

Already having a feeling what was inside this box, he subtly glanced over towards Essek, who was deep in conversation with Beauregard over an open case of bottles, likely old arcane potions of some kind. Then, he looked down at Veth, who had followed him around like a shadow this entire time. “Would you, ah, mind checking this for traps?”

“Sure,” she squeaked, jumping up onto the table and closely investigating the box. He was glad that they had talked a bit about things, that they’ve fallen back into their old rhythms. There was a long way to go, but it was a start.

“I’m not seeing anything,” she said at last, pushing the box back over to him. He could feel the slight shifting as whatever was inside knocked up against the walls. “Probably has a magical lock though.”

“Ja, I am inclined to agree,” he muttered quietly.

“Nott,” Beauregard called from her side of the room, waving her over, “can you check for traps over here?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming, shut up!” Veth yelled back as she stomped over.

Caleb turned his attention back to the box, sending a quick Dispel Magic over its surface. The faint arcane hum he’d felt from whatever was keeping it sealed flickered away with a slight _clicking_ sound. Ever so slowly, he lifted the lid a fraction and was greeted with a familiar faint glow. He opened it the rest of the way with a resigned air, revealing lead lining and a velvet cushion.

Upon that cushion, its light pulsing faintly and motes of grey drifting around it, the air already warming with its presence, rested the Beacon from Pride’s Call.

Scheisse.

**Author's Note:**

> Did I roll for most of the things in this battle and act parts of it out with my miniatures? Perhaps.
> 
> Also, if anyone is wondering, I just bastardized the 5e Archmage statblock for de Rogna here.


End file.
